Space calendar 2024: Rocket launches, skywatching events, missions & more!

July 21: July's full moon signals its rotation back to opposite side of the sun from Earth, and as such is fully illuminated. If you were standing on the moon at the right longitude it would be noontime – the sun would be directly overhead at the moon's equator, and as high as it ever gets in the sky as one moves north or south. Lunar days are about 14 days long, as the moon always keeps the same face towards Earth. A full moon means that the moon is on the opposite side of the sun from Earth, and as such is fully illuminated. If you were standing on the moon at the right longitude it would be noontime – the sun would be directly overhead at the moon's equator, and as high as it ever gets in the sky as one moves north or south. Lunar days are about 14 days long, as the moon always keeps the same face towards Earth.

July 30-31: Though few in number, the Alpha Capricornids frequently produce slow, bright yellow, fireball-class meteors that can be quite spectacular. They can be especially stunning for northern observers because of their long trails, owing to their low radiant elevation. This year, they will last from July 3 - Aug. 15, with a peak during the nights of July 30 and 31.

NET July 31: SpaceX's most ambitious crewed mission to date is gearing up to launch this summer — it will include the company's first spacewalk-capable spacesuits and a Crew Dragon capsule with an interior modified for vacuum exposure. Polaris Dawn is the first of three anticipated missions in the Polaris Program, funded by billionaire philanthropist Jared Isaacman. The endeavor is a follow-up to SpaceX's Inspiration4 launch that occurred 2021, which flew Isaacman and three other private citizens on the first all-civilian flight to space. Read more: How SpaceX's private Polaris Dawn astronauts will attempt the 1st-ever 'all-civilian' spacewalk

July: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will return to Earth aboard Boeing's Starliner to wrap up the spacecraft's Crew Flight Test (CFT). Starliner was delayed again Friday (June 21) in finishing its first International Space Station (ISS) mission with astronauts. Extra testing still remains ahead of undocking, team officials emphasized; Starliner experienced helium leaks and thruster issues that extended its Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission from an originally planned 10 days after launching June 5. NASA and Boeing have not yet announced a return date for Starliner, saying only it will happen after a July 2 spacewalk. Read more: Starliner CFT - live updates

NET Aug 1: After a successful test flight in June, where SpaceX managed to soft land both Starship and its Super Heavy booster in the ocean, the company is targeting July for the megarocket's next launch. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has stated IFT-5 will attempt to catch Starships first stage booster using the launch tower's "chopstick" arms, a first for the rocket as its development evolves toward reusability.

August: A Progress resupply vehicle will launch with cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). The uncrewed spacecraft will launch on a Soyuz 2.1a rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. The Russian space agency (ROSCOSMOS) spacecraft will dock with the ISS about three hours after launch, carrying supplies and fuel for the space station.

August: SpaceX will launch its ninth operational crewed mission for NASA. The Crew-9 mission will launch cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, and three NASA astronauts: Zena Cardman, Nick Hague and Stephanie Wilson to the International Space Station for a stay of about six months. Crew-9 will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Space Coast NET August. A final target date has not yet been announced.

August 19: August's Sturgeon Moon, named for the fish found plentiful in areas like the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water like Lake Champlain is most readily caught, will rise at 2:26 p.m. EDT (1826 GMT).

August: Upon the arrival of Crew-9 to the space station, Crew-8 will begin preparations to return to Earth. NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeannette Epps and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin arrived to the ISS in March, and will wrap-up their rotation aboard the orbiting lab. A specific date and landing location has not yet been announced. 

September 16–18: The Air and Space Forces Association's Air, Space & Cyber Conference will take place this year atthe Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. According to their website, the conference "provides first-class professional military development, facilitates sharing of emerging requirements and technologies, and helps fuel connections that advance the cause of air and space power." The theme of this year’s conference is "Achieving Decisive Advantage in an Age of Growing Threats".

September 17: Traditionally, this designation goes to the full moon that occurs closest to the Autumnal (Fall) Equinox. In most years, the Harvest Moon comes in September, but about every four or five years it occurs in October (next time this will happen will be in 2025). At the peak of the harvest, farmers can work into the night by the light of this moon, which will rise at 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 on Sept. 18).

September 17-18: The partial lunar eclipse will be visible over Europe, Much of Asia, Africa, North America, South America, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, the Arctic and Antarctica, according to TimeandDate.com.

It will begin at 8:41 p.m. EDT (0141 GMT on Sept. 18), the maximum point of the eclipse will occur at 10:44 p.m. EDT (0341 GMT on Sept. 18) and the partial lunar eclipse will end at 12:47 a.m. EDT on Sept. 18 (0547 GMT). The total duration of the partial lunar eclipse is 4 hours and 6 minutes.

September: Blue Origin will launch its New Glenn rocket on its first flight. The rocket stands about 322 feet (98 meters) tall and can send 50 tons (45 metric tons) to low Earth orbit, and will be Blue Origin's first orbital rocket. 

September: The second of two SpaceX Falcon 9 launches of the European Union's Galileo satellites will take place in September. The missions mark the first times SpaceX has launched EU satellites carrying classified equipment, and the first time in 15 years that Galileo spacecraft launch from a non-European territory. 

September 22: The autumnal equinox will occur at 8:44 p.m. EDT (1244 GMT), bringing astronomical autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, and spring in the Southern Hemisphere.

October 2: A "ring of fire" annular solar eclipse will pass over parts of the Pacific Ocean, southern Chile and southern Argentina. About 175,000 people live in the visual path of this eclipse, according to Time and Date. During an annular solar eclipse, it is NEVER safe to look directly at the sun without solar eclipse glasses designed for solar viewing. Read our guide on how to observe the sun safely. 

October 8: The Draconid meteor shower 2024 is active between Oct. 6 and Oct. 10 and will peak around Oct. 8. Viewing conditions for the Draconids are favorable this year as although the moon will be 27% illuminated during the time of the peak, it will set about 9 p.m. local time, allowing for a night of meteor hunting in a moonless sky. The Draconids are caused by Earth passing through debris — bits of ice and rock — left behind by Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner as it hurtles through the solar system, passing Earth once every 6.6 years, according to NASA Science. 

NET October 10: SpaceX will launch NASA's Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter's icy moon Europa on a Falcon Heavy rocket, from Launch Complex 39-A, at the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. Europa is one of the most promising places in the solar system to hunt for extraterrestrial life. Several missions have gathered evidence that Europa contains a huge ocean in its interior, beneath a shell of ice estimated to be between 2 to 20 miles (3 to 30 kilometers) thick according to NASA. Europa Clipper will reach Jupiter on April 11, 2030, when it will enter a long, looping orbit around the gas giant. Read more: Europa Clipper: A guide to NASA's new astrobiology mission

October 14-18: The 75th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) will see the arrival in Milan of over 8,000 experts from industry, research and the institutions and place Italy at the heart of the international debate on the use of Space to support sustainability.

September 17, at 7:26 a.m. EDT (11:26 GMT): With the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it is time to hunt. Since the fields have been reaped, hunters can ride over the stubble, and can more easily see the fox, also other animals that have come out to glean and can be caught for a Thanksgiving banquet after the harvest.

October 20-21: The Orionid meteor shower is active between Sept. 26 to Nov. 22 and will peak on Oct. 20-21 between midnight and dawn, with clear-sky rates of about 20 meteors per hour can be expected. Viewing conditions for the Orionids are not good this year as the moon will be 79% illuminated at the time of the peak. Sometimes the Orionid meteor shower produces spectacular displays of up to 80 meteors an hour, but in recent years it has produced more modest displays of about 20 or 30 visible meteors per hour. The Orionid meteor shower is produced when Earth passes through the debris or ice and dust left behind from Comet 1P/Halley, more commonly known as Halley's Comet. Read more: Orionid meteor shower 2024: When, where & how to see it